TOP HEADLINES

• Ukraine said its forces had pushed deeper into Russian defensive lines near the village of Robotyne, a day after claiming control over the village on the southern front. Military spokesman Andriy Kovalyov said Ukrainian forces were edging further in the Zaporizhzhia region, which Moscow claims is part of Russia. READ MORE BELOW

• Russian air defenses downed Ukrainian drones over the Tula and Belgorod regions, Moscow's defense ministry said, without indicating if there had been damage or casualties. Two drones "were destroyed" by air defenses over the Tula region south of Moscow, Russia's defense ministry said in a statement on Telegram. Another drone was "destroyed by air defense forces" over the Belgorod region. A Ukrainian drone was also destroyed over the Black Sea, the ministry said.

• Russian President Vladimir Putin has no plans to attend the funeral of Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was killed when his plane crashed last week, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. He added the Kremlin did not have any specific information about the funeral, and the arrangements were up to the family.

• Three people were killed in an overnight Russian missile strike in central Ukraine, and two died in shelling in the east and south, Ukrainian officials said. Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said the three people were killed at an industrial plant in the central Poltava region. Five were wounded and another person was unaccounted for, he said.

• Years of disrupted schooling have left Ukrainian children struggling to learn language, math and reading skills in the wake of the pandemic and Russia's offensive, the United Nations warned. Youngsters within the country and refugees forced to flee abroad are now facing a fourth straight year of disruption, the UN children's agency, UNICEF, said, as the school year begins in Ukraine. READ MORE BELOW

• Russia accused a former U.S. consulate employee of illegally passing data about the Ukraine conflict to American diplomats, drawing a protest from Washington which has called his activities routine. The Russian Security Service (FSB) also announced it was seeking to question two U.S. diplomats at the embassy in Moscow over the case, in a break from diplomatic tradition. 

• The Ukrainian Defense Minister rejected new graft allegations concerning military supplies, amid media reports of uniforms being bought for inflated prices during the conflict with Russia. Several media outlets have reported that the ministry signed a contract late last year with a Turkish company to supply winter combat fatigues, but the price tripled following the inking of the deal. Ukrainian journalists have also determined that the winter gear can be purchased in Turkey at considerably lower prices.

• Turkey said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will "soon" visit Russia for talks with Vladimir Putin on reviving a Black Sea grain deal that could be used as a springboard for broader Ukraine peace negotiations. Erdogan's ruling party spokesman Omer Celik, the ruling AK Party spokesperson, told reporters that the meeting will take place in Russia's Black Sea resort city of Sochi and focus on averting a looming "food crisis." 

• Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba slammed neighboring countries over plans to curb grain imports from his country after an EU ban expires, vowing to "fiercely defend our rights". Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary and Bulgaria said last week they wanted the EU to extend the ban, due to expire on September 15, until the end of the year. Kuleba said his country was ready to work with the five EU members on a solution.

IN DETAIL

Ukrainian forces edge closer to Zaporizhzhia region

Ukraine said that its forces had pushed deeper into Russian defensive lines near the village of Robotyne, a day after claiming control over the village on the southern front. Kyiv launched a grinding counteroffensive in June after stockpiling Western-supplied weapons and building up assault battalions, but progress has been slow.

Military spokesman Andriy Kovalyov said Ukrainian forces were edging further in the Zaporizhzhia region, which Moscow claims is part of Russia.

"Ukrainian forces had successes in the direction of Novodanylivka to Verbove," he told state media, naming two hamlets in the war-battered region. 

He added that the troops were holding captured territory and attacking Russian artillery. Ukrainian troops have also been trying to surround the eastern town of Bakhmut, which was captured by Russian forces in May.

The head of the Donetsk region, where Bakhmut is located, played down the Ukrainian push, after Kyiv claimed successes.

"The flanks are being held. The situation there is already stabilizing," Denis Pushilin told Russian state media.

Compared to Ukrainian offensives last year in the Kherson and Kharkiv regions, this time Kyiv's forces are crashing into Russian defensive lines of trenches and minefields that are kilometers wide.

But analysts say the capture of Robotyne is evidence that Ukrainian forces can puncture Russian lines as they push south.

UN warns Ukraine's children are losing out on education

Years of disrupted schooling have left Ukrainian children struggling to learn languages, maths and reading skills in the wake of the pandemic and Russia's offensive, the United Nations warned.

Youngsters within the country and refugees forced to flee abroad are now facing a fourth straight year of disruption, the UN children's agency, UNICEF, said, as the school year begins in Ukraine.

Continued attacks on education inside Ukraine and low-level enrollment in refugee-hosting countries have left many of Ukraine's 6.7 million three-to-18-year-olds struggling to learn, said Regina De Dominicis, UNICEF's regional director for Europe and central Asia.

They are showing signs of widespread learning loss, including a deterioration in Ukrainian language skills, reading and mathematics, she said after visiting the country.

"Inside Ukraine, attacks on schools have continued unabated, leaving children deeply distressed and without safe spaces to learn," De Dominicis said. "Not only has this left Ukraine's children struggling to progress in their education, but they are also struggling to retain what they learnt when their schools were fully functioning."

UNICEF cited survey data which found around half of teachers reporting a deterioration in students' Ukrainian language proficiency, mathematics skills and foreign language abilities.

And it said enrollment data showed only one third of children were learning fully in-person, with a third learning completely online and the remainder through a mixed approach. UNICEF said online learning could help in the short-term but was not a proper long-term replacement for in-person teaching, considered critical for social development.

The agency cited national survey data showing that two thirds of pre-school-age children were not attending, rising to three quarters in frontline areas.

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